Bayou Cane fire budget better than expected

Published: Tuesday, December 11, 2012 at 10:48 a.m.

Last Modified: Tuesday, December 11, 2012 at 10:48 a.m.

The Bayou Cane Fire District passed a budget Monday night that was considerably less bleak than budgets proposed before and after a ballot initiative to raise tax revenue for the district failed.

Although a federal grant that paid for the salaries and benefits of 14 firefighters will expire this year, the district will not have to lay off anyone, as previously proposed, Fire Chief Ken Himel said. Instead, the district will not fill five vacant positions.

Two firefighters quit, a fire inspector will likely transfer to bookkeeping, and Himel’s former fire inspector position will not be filled, nor will a vacant training officer position, he said.

“We need those positions, but I’d rather have firefighters on the job,” Himel said, referring to the plan he proposed last month to lay off at least four firefighters. Not having a fire inspector on staff, for example, means the chief takes on a lot of the insurance inspections. However, he hopes to eventually fill those positions again.

A fire station firefighters closed after the election will also be reopened.

The station at Savanne Road and La. 311 will re-open sometime next year, Himel said.

“It’s going to be sooner rather than later,” he said to board member Suzanne Carlos, who lives near that station. “A lot sooner rather than later.”

The station’s closing seemed to be a hot-button issue in the neighboring area, board Chairman Jeff Teuton said.

The news comes in light of recent money-saving measures the district took after it failed to get voter support to increase its 20-mill property tax by 50 percent.

Increasing firefighters’ co-pays and out-of-pocket insurance costs saved $45,000, the chief said. Firefighters are limiting the medical calls they respond to, prioritizing crashes with injuries and critical calls such as stabbings and shootings.

“I think the guys will tell you they’ve seen a reduction in calls,” Himel told the board.

They’re also limited fire hydrant checks from twice a year to once a year, the chief said. This will cut fuel costs, though he couldn’t estimate how much.

“Every change we’re making is fluid,” Himel said. I

If he sees that any change has not saved the department much money, it can be adjusted.

Some of these suggestions came as a result of voter complaints firefighters heard.

“With the election, it was a really good survey,” Himel said. “We learned some things they liked, and some things they didn’t like.”

The district expects to bring in an estimated $3.6 million next year.

The bleakest financial news board members heard Monday was that even though voters allowed the district to levy the same amount of taxes it has in the past, the district cannot levy that full, vote-approved amount because of a clerical error.

The district will miss out on $180,000 because the board lacked the two-thirds vote needed to collect additional revenue from rising property values. The number is less than half the original estimated amount, but Teuton was not able to convince the state to allow the district to re-take the vote as he had said at the last meeting he would try to do. Two board members were absent at the time.

“It’s not something we can sweep under the rug and say it’s no big deal,” protested firefighter Ricky Valenti, president of the Bayou Cane chapter of the International Association of Firefighters. He urged board members to look for a different avenue for approval, but Teuton said it was no use.

Board members can take this vote when the issue comes up again next year, and the district will receive that extra revenue in 2015, Himel said.

Himel said looking over the budget has encouraged him as the new chief, elected earlier this year, to plan better for the future.

“We’re going to do a better job of actually preparing a better budget. ... None of these are permanent funding solutions, but they’ll help us get by until we can come up with a plan,” he said.

Looking at past budgets, in some cases the biggest problems seemed to crop up because “we maybe actually didn’t mean to do X, Y and Z all in one year,” Himel said.

Himel said he will take a closer look at the money battalion chiefs request for their stations.

“If the battalion chiefs need $25,000 to operate, I need to know why that is,” he said.

Staff Writer Katie Urbaszewski can be reached at 448-7617 or katie.urbaszewski@dailycomet.com.

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